The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently tested quad-copters loaded with sensors and cameras at an old hangar set up as a warehouse at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts. The effort marked a first flight test for DARPA’s Fast Lightweight Autonomy program, which is probing how to develop algorithms that could reduce the amount of human intervention needed to fly small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) through a congested urban environment. Continue reading
Category Archives: News
Russia Unveils Anti-Tank Assault Multicopter
Russia has revealed a new concept whereby a multicopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been adapted to the anti-tank role with the fitting of cameras and a shoulder-launched rocket system.
Lockheed Martin’s Hybrid Airship
Lockheed Martin has recently released this video of its Hybrid Airship on YouTube. With unlimited access to isolated locations around the globe, Hybrid Airships safely and sustainably support a wide range of activities in areas with little to no infrastructure. The airship offers the simplicity of a pickup truck by carrying cargo loads and personnel in and out of remote areas daily, not just certain seasons or only after major road, rail or airport infrastructure is developed.
Wing Loong II Model on Display at Singapore
First revealed by way of an information sheet at the Beijing Aero Show in September last year, the Chengdu Wing Loong II turboprop-powered UAV is being exhibited in model form at the Singapore Airshow for the first time outside China. Continue reading
SimActive Wins Royal Thai Government Mapping Project
SimActive Inc., a developer of photogrammetry software, has announced that Loxley PCL has purchased its Correlator3D for a major mapping project in Thailand. The software is used by its subsidiary, Data Mining Co., Ltd., to process tens of thousands of large-format images to generate high-quality orthomosaics. Continue reading
Russian 10-Drone Control Station
A state-of-the art system capable of simultaneously controlling ten drones and ground-based robots has reportedly been unveiled in Russia.
NOAA’s Drones Document Gray Seal Pups
For several days this month, scientists are gathering in the largest gray seal pupping area in U.S. waters to study weaned gray seal pups, aided by images from an airplane and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly called drones. The researchers hope to gather data from these sites and other breeding sites in Maine to move a step closer to answering a nagging question – how many gray seals are there in Northeastern waters? – and expand their studies on the health of the animals.
Finnish UAV Solutions for Indian Power Industry
India’s largest private developer of independent transmission systems, Sterlite Grid and Finland’s leading UAV solutions provider, Sharper Shape, have entered into a strategic partnership to deliver cutting-edge UAV technologies for the power transmission industry. The alliance will provide business solutions to transmission line operators and help them in reducing delivery time of projects, and increase the uptime of power systems.